


Love and Asbestos

by Katzenjammers



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 18:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19382395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katzenjammers/pseuds/Katzenjammers
Summary: While the boys want to hunt down the mysterious urban legend of the "Shrieking Banshee." Jaina just wants to take some depressing photos in an abandoned hospital. Everybody's happy, until they hear the first scream.A oneshot I wrote on the train while I take a break from tackling a 15k chapter. Enjoy.





	Love and Asbestos

“This is ridiculous.” Jaina spat, smacking her torch several times and groaning as it spluttered and died. “I told Anduin to replace the batteries but noooo he goes ahead and gives me the shit one, peace of crap, good for nothing…fuck!”

 

Jaina scrambled and failed to catch the batteries as they fell from the compartment she’d opened and clattered to the floor. She watched them roll away with a heavy sigh.

 

“Well that’s just great.” She muttered. “I have… oh good,  _nine_ percent left on my phone, no signal and three cowards who took off running as soon as they heard a shriek in the distance which I’m pretty sure was just a pipe. Right? Oh _tides_ why am I talking to myself.”

 

Jaina knew why she was talking to herself. She was terrified. And apparently alone since all her friends clearly decided to proverbially, or maybe in some cases literally, shit themselves and escape. Even Anduin had left her in the dust and he had possibly the slowest, campest run she’d ever set eyes on… and a working torch, which she did not. It was pretty difficult to keep pace when you couldn’t fucking see. 

 

“Well then!” She muttered with false cheeriness. “Hopefully one of those buffoons gets the memo they left me back here without any light and actually grows enough backbone to come fetch me.”

 

Something shrieked again, closer.

 

“Just a pipe, just a pipe, just a pipe.” Jaina soothed herself, trying to keep her tone steady. Something slammed a door nearby. “Just a pipe…hello? Shaw? Anduin?” Jaina’s voice raised a couple octaves.

 

A hiss. More slamming of doors, the temperature of the room dropped significantly and Jaina found she couldn’t swallow, couldn’t move or speak. It was her imagination surely, ghosts weren’t real or… whatever urban legend had named the vengeful entity that stalked the abandoned hospital. The Shrieking Banshee? Wasn’t it? Measured footsteps, too light to be human, maybe an elf could pull it off but she’d had no elves in her entourage. Only two clumsy human oafs and a less than subtle orc who’d all took off thundering like wildebeest at the slightest noise. She’d at least thought Thrall would have had her back but clearly even he was as fainthearted as the rest of them. Good athlete, a stickler for starting bar fights but apparently petrified of the supernatural. Jaina sighed and pushed the dust mask away from her face.

 

“All I wanted was to get some nice atmospheric pictures.” Jaina called out. “I don’t care if I’m being pranked or you really are some pissed off spirit stalking me but I would really appreciate some light so I can find my way out and leave you alone!” Cold breath tickled at her shoulder. Jaina swore and nearly dropped the camera she was clutching. That would have been nearly a grand lost, wait, was she really thinking about property damage while in potential fear of her life? Apparently so. Then Jaina saw it. A form with smoking red eyes and writhing tendrils that slithered from the doorway, pulling itself ‘upright’ into a more humanoid form. Shadows slipped away to form features and the creature opened its mouth…

 

“Please don’t scream!” Jaina blurted out, despite the barely contained panic and trembling of her voice. The entity paused and titled its head.“I meant no disrespect by disturbing you or trespassing in your… domain. I’m just here to take photographs of some of the hospital rooms, here, look.” Jaina hurriedly turned on the camera and tilted it so the creature could see the small window that displayed the pictures. She tried not to shudder as it glided closer and hid her immense surprise as it seemed to look over her shoulder to observe, as if it were willingly co-operating.

 

“See I like this one because the way the fading daylight shone on the broken bed with the IV pole still beside. It just looked so melancholy but then check this one out…” Jaina flicked through a few more photos until it showed a stairwell, the peeling paint of a sign pointed to various treatment wards but around it snaked a few vines, while the branches were thin and yellowing, the stems grew long and tall, reaching up to the skylight where tiny green shoots had sprouted. “For some reason this one just alludes the word ‘hope’ don’t you think? I don’t know, I’m not some professional, I only do this as a hobby but…oh you wanna take the camera? Here just click on the buttons and you can scroll through them.” Jaina, still in shock, placed the camera in pale outstretched hands trying not to wince at the risk of it getting smashed, oh and maybe her potential demise too. For a while the shadowy creature with the long pale limbs flicked through the camera in silence before staring at one photo in particular. Curiosity ruling over caution, Jaina risked peeking over and allowed a soft smile to cross her face.

 

“Oh that’s just a silly one of me and my brothers. That’s Derek, the tall one and that’s Tandred the fat one.” Jaina snickered. “Ok, he’s not really that fat, just well built but I tease him about it anyway.” The creature made a noise that Jaina might have translated as a chuckle were it not so distorted before it stroked a pale fingertip across the screen. Now that she could make out the features from the writhing mass of shadows as the creature flickered in and out of a more solid form, she realized she could see tears spilling from the blazing red eyes. Or were they marks, makeup… either way it made the face look so sad she felt her chest clench uncomfortably.

 

“Did you have siblings once?” Jaina guessed and the creature nodded. The human swallowed and shuffled closer. “Do you miss them?” Another nod, the slump of shoulders, the tear stained face somehow looking even more distraught. Before she knew it, Jaina reached for the shadowy form, wrapping arms around thin pale shoulders and gasping when she felt a cool firmness of skin underneath the haze of smoke. “I’m sorry.” She whispered. “I hope you find peace someday.”

 

The creature stiffened, then crawled into her hold and for a blissful moment the warm arms of the living embraced the dead as human and banshee held one another, alone and silent save for the erratic thrum of a single living heart.

 

“Jaina?” A deep voice echoed down the corridor and Jaina nearly whimpered at the loss as a body, light as the wind, slipped from her lap and was gone before she could draw another breath. Thrall heaved his body against the emergency exit and flooded the room in torchlight. “Jaina I’m so sorry I thought you were right behind me. Are you okay? I’m sorry I lost it back there I don’t know why I was being so irrational.”

 

“Yeah I’m… I think I just hugged a Banshee.” Jaina murmured in reply and Thrall’s eyes widened before he shook his head and laughed nervously.

 

“Oh spirits please don’t tell me you hit your head, your mother will kill me if she finds out you got hurt because I ran away.”

 

“Oh relax Thrall.” Jaina shoved his shoulder playfully before smiling wistfully at the darkened room he was leading her from. “I’ve never felt safer.”

**Author's Note:**

> There should be a national "hug an angry spirit" day. Bring some love and positive vibes to any place that's haunted.


End file.
